Imperialism destabilizing Africa

Andre Vltchek is a novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. His discussion with Noam Chomsky On Western Terrorism is now going to print. His critically acclaimed political novel Point of No Return is now re-edited and available. Oceania is his book on Western imperialism in the South Pacific. His provocative book about post-Suharto Indonesia and the market-fundamentalist model is called “Indonesia – The Archipelago of Fear”. He has just completed the feature documentary, “Rwanda Gambit” about Rwandan history and the plunder of DR Congo. After living for many years in Latin America and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides and works in East Asia and Africa. He can be reached through his website or his Twitter.

French military exercises over former colony Senegal (Photo by Andre Vltchek)

Recent outbursts of violence in Kenya and Nigeria shocked the world, but with the influx of guns from destabilized countries, and instability, which is a direct result of Western neo-colonialism, the situation could get much worst.

The African continent is being ravished as it was in the darkest
days of direct colonialism.

There are no exact statistics available, but at least 6 million
people have died in war-ravaged DR Congo since 1995. But some say
that 10 million is a much more precise figure. There, Rwanda and
Uganda, two staunch allies of the West, are plundering with
absolute impunity, and with total disregard for human lives. Gang
rapes are routine, as are the most savage forms of mass murder…
So are child soldiers… And so are religious freaks turning into
militia commanders. Some of the most horrible warlords in the DRC
have actually been from religious groups, including Pentecostal
pastors, such as General Laurent Nkunda, who used religious
fervor and gospel songs to lead his troops to kill, rape, and
mutilate.

The DRC is unimaginably rich in natural resources, from Coltan,
to Uranium and Diamonds. And that is its curse, its nightmare.

The weapons used in Central Africa are often imported from
destabilized countries in Northern Africa and elsewhere on the
continent, undermined mainly by Western geopolitical interests.
These weapons are killing both humans and animals. As reported by
Reuters on May 20, 2013:

Armed groups in central Africa are using powerful weapons,
some of which may be left over from the civil war in Libya, to
kill elephants for their ivory, the United Nations said on
Monday.

Weapons were sized by Libyan civilians during the mutiny against
Muammar Gaddafi, and then smuggled to Egypt and to all corners of
Africa, including Nigeria and DR Congo.

In Egypt, it is now easy to purchase grenade launchers, mortar
rounds, surface-to-surface missiles, and automatic weapons; most
of it comes from conflict-torn African nations.

Mohammad, a police officer in Nasr City near Cairo, explained to
me when I was covering the bomb blast that was aimed at killing
the Minister of Interior, in September 2013:

“The security is now totally compromised. Many police officers
never returned to their duty after Mubarak had been brought down…
But that is not all. Many of us are now afraid. We are lightly
armed, but we have to face combat, battlefield weapons, that are
leaking into Egypt from abroad. Crime in Egypt is now totally out
of control.”

The other destabilized country on the African continent, Somalia,
is awash with weapons, from traditional knifes and machetes, to
heavy military equipment used in real combat situations.

Working in two Nairobi slums, Mathare and Kibera, earlier this
year, I was told by several local gangsters, who were my guides,
something that is frightening even the hardened Nairobi
underworld:

“Bila… It comes from Somalia. They are made for killing. The
way they are shaped and look; you lose so much blood and you die.
Here we call them wambe, which in Swahili means razorblade. But
no matter how sharp it is, it’s still a knife.”

“What about guns?” I ask.

“They are all over the place. They are very cheap. Guns come
with the refugees, and the refugees arrive from Somalia and
Ethiopia.”

Just over a week ago, on 21 September 2013, the Somali Muslim
militia undertook a desperate terrorist action, taking over a
luxury mall, The Westgate. They killed some 130 people and turned
the expat and upper class Nairobi neighborhood of Westlands into
a real battleground.

But the West has used Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda to tear once
proud Somalia to pieces, for many years and decades.

At the recent solidarity action with ‘The Cuban 5’ - Cuban
patriots accused and imprisoned in Miami for espionage - Kenyan
opposition leader and head of the Social Democratic Party,
Mwandawiro Mghanga, declared:

“We are talking about terrorism here in Kenya, and it is
terrorism what happened at The Westgate… But what the United
States and other Western courtiers are doing all over this
continent and all over the world, is a much greater terrorism and
it triggers terrible consequences.”

Weapons are spreading all over Africa, and so are the angry,
frustrated men and women coming from the nations converted into
combat zones: from Mali to Niger, DR Congo to Somalia.

A Ugandan progressive, a businessman who comes from a prominent
political family, Arthur Tewungwa summarizes the problem:

“There are many Somali refugees in Kenya and Uganda. They have
been in these two countries for many years, decades, and have
integrated themselves. The businesses they have a large presence
in are money transfers, currency exchanges and all aspects of the
transport business, passengers and freight. This is a dangerous
cocktail when put in the context of the lawlessness that is
Somalia. This is a country that has borne the brunt of American
meddling and now those countries that sought to assist the
Americans in their efforts are bearing the brunt. The country is
awash with guns and ammo. The strong position that the Somali
community holds in the above-named commercial activities gives it
an advantage when it comes to the movement of illegal arms. They
have the money, the ability to move it, and the capacity to
transfer the arms they have bought. Kenya and Uganda are in
peril. Their neo-liberal economies suffer from the cancer of
corruption brought about by policies that exacerbate poverty and
hence breed corruption. A security guard on $30 a month, or a
policeman/customs officer on $60/month is not going to turn down
$100 to turn a blind eye!”

Uganda has been a target of punitive attacks by Al-Shabaab, and
so has Kenya. Demands and threats have always been the same:
‘leave our country at once, or face the consequences.”

In a recently published book, discussion between a leading public
intellectual, Noam Chomsky and myself (“On Western Terrorism:
From Hiroshima To Drone Warfare”, Pluto Press, 2013), Chomsky
pointed out:

“Actually Europe is helping… by dumping toxic waste into the
ocean off the coast of Somalia, killing off the fishing grounds
and then complaining that the people turned to piracy.”

At the other geographical extreme of the continent, Nigeria is
suffering from repeated attacks and massacres conducted by the
brutal Muslim organization, Boko Haram. Recently, several towns
in Northern Nigeria were attacked and civilians massacred.
Carnage at a college dormitory shocked the entire continent and
the world.

But right after this terrible event, several Nigerian
publications and news portals, including ‘Abusidiqu’,
reported on Wikileaks information:

In December 2011 an Algerian based CIA wing gave out $40
million naira as a planned long-term partnership with Boko Haram
with a PLEDGE TO DO MORE…

…Disregarding advice from experts, the US armed Saudi
Arabia who in turn armed the Libyan rebels, that in turn armed
Malian rebels and Boko Haram, a chain tacitly predicted by the
CIA…

Africa, a victim of the most excessive forms of colonialism,
including slavery and genocides performed by European powers and
Christian religious fundamentalists, is still losing millions of
its sons and daughters.

It is not only because of the direct attacks or actions committed
by European powers and the United States. Distant conflicts on
the continent fueled by Western interests can easily send
millions of desperate people to all corners of Africa. And with
them come weapons and ammunition, as well as men, women and even
children, ready to join any cause and any gang, just to belong
and survive.

Andre Vltchek is a
novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He can be
reached through his websiteor
hisTwitter.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.